BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s basketball team will play a record 21 home games in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center during the 2008-09 campaign for first-year head coach Trent Johnson as the schedule was released by the LSU Athletics Department.
Four previous times in the 37-year history of the Assembly Center the Tigers have played 18 home games (1990, 1996, 2003, 2007), but with the addition of a two-weekend round-robin exempt tournament the Tigers will play three-additional games at home in the non-conference schedule.
The Tigers will face 13 teams that advanced to post-season play with eight of those scheduled in the Maravich Center. Highlighting the home schedule will be meetings with Xavier on Jan. 24, a team that reached the Elite 8 a year ago, and Washington State, which advanced to the Sweet 16. The Washington State game is set for Dec. 27. Both games are scheduled to be televised on ESPN2.
LSU will also host NCAA teams Cal State Fullerton (Dec. 2), Mississippi State (Jan. 21), Arkansas (Jan. 31) and Vanderbilt (March 4). LSU will face teams from last year’s NCAA Tournament away from Baton Rouge starting at Houston in a neutral site game with Texas A&M (Dec. 20), at Tennessee (Jan. 28), at Georgia (Feb. 4), at Mississippi State (Feb. 11), at Arkansas (Feb. 18) and at Kentucky (Feb. 28).
The Tigers will also play games against two of the NIT semifinalists ? Ole Miss (Jan. 17, Feb. 14) and Florida (Feb. 24) in a Super Tuesday game on ESPN ? along with a trip to Salt Lake City (Jan. 6) to face Utah, which played in the inaugural CBI event.
The Jan. 31 contest with the Razorbacks will serve as the “100th anniversary game” for the LSU men’s basketball program dating back to the first intercollegiate university sanctioned game on Jan. 30, 1909, and will be the concluding point of a reunion weekend for all former LSU basketball players culminating with the announcement of the LSU basketball “All-Century Team” that the fans will have a hand in selecting beginning in October.
The Tigers open the 101st season of intercollegiate action on Saturday, Nov. 15 against Jackson State University.
“With Washington State, with Cal State Fullerton, Texas A&M and Xavier we have four basketball teams in the non-conference schedule that obviously went deep into the NCAA Tournament,” said coach Johnson. “We have a trip to Utah that year in and year out is one of premier programs in the Mountain West Conference.
“For our basketball team with the philosophy change this season and the numerous injuries to key players like Tasmin Mitchell and Garrett Temple, one of the things for me as a new coach is that I didn’t over schedule,” Johnson said. “My philosophy as it regards to scheduling is that the most important game is going to be the first game we play against Jackson State. For us to compete at a high level, every opponent on our schedule regardless of who we play, when we play or where we play it is important we compete at a high level and look at every opponent the same way.”
LSU’s exempt event will feature four other teams ? Troy, Centenary, Northwestern State and Alcorn ? in a two-weekend event Nov. 20, 21 and 23 and Nov. 28-30. LSU will play on Nov. 20 and 23 and Nov. 28 and 30. When LSU plays Northwestern State on Nov. 23, the Tiger team for the first time in 2008 will put on the line its 67-game win streak at home against Louisiana schools that dates back almost 20 years to Dec. 8, 1988 when the streak started against McNeese State.
The Tigers will open Southeastern Conference play on the road for the eighth straight season when it travels to Tuscaloosa for a Sunday, Jan. 11 date with the Crimson Tide. Ironically, both games with Alabama will be on Sunday as the rematch is schedule for Baton Rouge on Feb. 8.
Game times and the games to be televised by CST and FSN have not yet been selected but so far the Tigers are scheduled for nine television appearances, including three on the ESPN family of networks and at Kentucky on CBS on Feb. 28.
Ticket information for the upcoming season is available by contacting the LSU Athletics Ticket Office at 225-578-2184 or online at www.LSUsports.net.